Dance With Me, One More Time
by mdivbf
Summary: "We either define our fate, or are defined by it." BL
1. Say My Name

_**"You and me is more than a hundred miles**_

 _ **You and me is more than the grey sky**_

 _ **You and me is more than lonely days**_

 _ **It's our time to go**_

 _ **Dance with me, one more time..."**_

* * *

Headlights skimmed over the chrome bumper of the Comet as Brooke fiddled with the dial on the radio, the volume dwindling as the Volkswagen rolled to a stop behind it.

She hadn't heard Peyton unclearly- no, she'd definitely been told that her best friend wouldn't be attending the party, so _why was she here?_

Brooke's eyebrows drew together as she threw the car into park, her hand snaking down to her bag a moment later to grab out her phone. There had to be some sort of explanation because Peyton wouldn't lie to her, would she?

Two weeks ago, and she would've been certain. She would have been the first to jump at the blonde's command. Now, she wasn't so sure. There'd been something up with her best friend as of late; something that saw her withdrawing from Brooke, and even going so far as spiting her in some instances. Lord knew the cheer team couldn't get through a single practice anymore without triggering the sarcastic wrath of a certain curly-headed troll. Brooke didn't know what was up, and she couldn't for the life of her seem to wriggle it out of Peyton, but for Peyton to lie straight to her face? That was a whole 'nother ball park.

Brooke lifted the phone to her ear, the one number she'd actually cared to memorise back in seventh grade already punched in, and sat back in her chair and waited for an answer that came after a mere two rings... In the form of an answering phone.

 _"You've reached Peyton. Leave a message."_

Sighing, she ended the call, her green orbs sparing a glance out the windscreen, the walls of the beach house before her shaking with the effort of keeping whatever tunes were blasting inside it in. She skimmed over the clamour of bodies already spilling out onto the porch with the hopes she'd find the familiar set of blonde curls, and then there she was, in the midst of it all, her own eyes narrowing as they locked on the brunette's.

 _Caught you._

"Whatever happened to steering clear of Nathan's parties?" Brooke asked a moment later, slender arms folding over her chest as she cocked a brow at the girl before her. "I mean, that's what you intended to do, right? Because screw standing around to watch the jocks grind on anything that moves-"

"I changed my mind," interjected the blonde with a shrug of her bony shoulders, smoothing a look of nonchalance over her face. "Is that such a big deal?"

"It is when you were bitching about everyone here a few hours ago!"

Peyton merely shrugged again, Brooke's raspy words falling on deaf ears. If she saw the confusion flash across the shorter girl's face, she didn't care one bit. Instead she stood, hard and unrelenting, pinning Brooke beneath a bitter gaze. And though Brooke wanted nothing more than to return the defiant stance, her resolve gave way to a whisper of desperation before it had even begun.

"Why are you being like this?"

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe," came Peyton's flat reply, "I lied because _I didn't want you to come?"_

The brunette shook her head then, any ounce of the hurt she'd felt moments before carefully tucked away behind a glare. "It's my bad," she started as she pushed past the skeleton of a girl, her voice laced with the same malice the blonde seemed to be dishing out, "I must have somehow forgotten that the world revolves around your flat ass."

* * *

She didn't stir as he approached, the slow rise and fall of her ivory chest her only movement. Her chocolate locks were pushed to one side, the thin straps of her tank top hanging limply over the sides of her shoulders as her arms stretched out at her sides, fingers buried in the warm sand. Lucas would have said something earlier, had the sight of her not made his words catch in his throat.

Brooke Davis was no stranger to him. His friends had begun to notice her about the same time as he'd begun to pine over her best friend, and while he'd always found the brunette pretty, he'd never quite understood the infatuation with her. Now, watching her lone form bask in the light of the moon and the gentle sound of the waves lapping on the shore, he was starting to get there.

If only he knew what to _say._

Had it been anyone else, he'd have asked after Haley. He'd lost her earlier in the night and while he was sure _she_ could stand her own, he was over being the butt of Nathan's slurred jokes and wanted nothing more than to grab his friend leave. But of course the minute he needed her, she was nowhere to be found.

"Brooke?"

Her name slipped from his mouth before he knew it, no louder than the sound of his footsteps in the sand as he shuffled closer to where she sat. She glanced up at him then, green eyes shooting him a quizzical glance before dragging down his body so slowly it near made him shiver.

"Lucas Scott."

He wasn't prepared for the sound of his name on her lips. Her voice wasn't anything like the twang of her best friend's, no trace of exasperation in the one word. It wasn't something he'd become accustomed to as of late; hearing his name without any hint of scorn or malice, so the absence of so in her voice was perhaps more startling than it was to find himself alone on a beach with her in the first place.

"Sit with me."

It was a demand, and Lucas complied. His body found purchase in the sand less than a foot from hers, so close he could catch the scent of her perfume. "What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She stretched out as she spoke, hand nudging against the side of his thigh. She didn't seem to notice, but he did. Of course he did. "Did your girlfriend ditch you?"

"Girlfriend?"

"The one you're always with," Brooke murmured, scrunching her nose in distaste as she waved a hand by her head. "With the hair."

Lucas bit back a laugh, shaking his head as a slight smirk graced his face. "You mean Haley? She's a friend."

From somewhere behind them, a new song began to play, Brooke's shoulders straightening instantaneously as she glanced back at the beach house.

 ** _"'Cause nobody knows it better_**

 ** _Than the girl in the corner with the scarlet letter_**

 ** _And while you're watching_**

 ** _You may think that she doesn't matter_**

 ** _But no one knows you better."_**

"I love this song," Brooke's gaze met his, and she cocked a brow in challenge before propositioning him.

"Come inside with me."

Lucas wasn't sure what the meaning behind the four words were, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out yet. Beside him Brooke got to her feet, her hands brushing the sand from her backside as she waited for him to follow suit, but he made no move to join her. He'd regret it in the morning, that much was sure, but he wouldn't go back inside. He'd already made himself a target by showing up to Nathan's party and he wasn't about to make the bullseye even bigger by heading back in with the prestigious head cheerleader.

"Maybe another time."

Brooke's brow shot even further up to her hairline, her hands seeking out her hips as watched him, a look of an amused sort of fascination painting the pretty features of her face.

"What makes you think you'll get another chance?"

The corner of Lucas's lips cocked up, and he lifted his shoulders in an effortless shrug. By the time he'd pushed himself up, Brooke was already halfway gone. Call it a feeling, but Brooke wasn't done with him just yet.


	2. Gone Are The Days

_**Gone are the days you're used to**_

 _ **Say goodby to the man who used you**_

 _ **I'd treat you the best, I assure you**_

 _ **No, anything less just won't do**_

* * *

Dark liquid sloshed around the cup as Brooke navigated her way down the front steps, minuscule droplets spilling over the rim and dribbling down onto painted black nails. Bevin was near comatose at her side, leaning heavily against the brunette as she attempted to edge her way toward her car, and Brooke swore to note down that her embarrassingly drunk friend owed her one. Big time.

"Nathan looked good tonight," Bevin murmured, hazy gaze sweeping over the dunes to the right of the cobbled driveway. "He always looks good."

Brooke only grunted in response, unwilling to over-exert herself by throwing in an eye roll. It was already enough to drag the blonde's scrawny backside from Dan Scott's prized liquor cabinet, let alone get her to and _in_ the car. Engaging in her drunken babble any further than need be was not something the shorter girl fancied doing.

"You know who else looked good?"

Brooke didn't have to wait long for the answer, her legs almost locking up beneath her when she heard _his_ name. It wasn't as if she'd expected to be the only girl to notice the spunk that Lucas was, but she sure as heck hadn't considered someone as oblivious to the world as Bevin was to catch on too. The thought of a nobody fanning herself over the older Scott brother was enough to make Brooke's stomach churn with some strange emotion, let alone a girl of her social standing. And it only intensified when she came to the realisation that Lucas, the boy with a face after her own heart, was deeper than who was on the cheerleading team and who drove their mom's Honda to school and back.

That was Tracey Aldrick, by the way.

Brooke downed what was left in her cup, the sudden tang of rum in her mouth quashing the fear that bubbled up in the pit of her belly, and then tossed her cup to the side in favour of further steadying the drunk cheerleader hanging off of her.

Again, Bevin so owed her. _Big time._

The final few steps to her car were torturous, quiet curses leaving her pink lips and floating through the warm air. Looking back, that might've been what had attracted him- or maybe it had been her friend's loud retches as the two slumped against the car. Either way, there he was there again, his hands tucked away in the pockets of his denim jeans as he peered at her from the end of the drive.

"Don't tell me you're planning on driving her home."

Deeming Bevin stable enough propped up by the baby blue Volkswagen, Brooke took the time to draw in a slow breath before turning to face the boy that she'd crossed paths with earlier in the night.

"As opposed to what, _walking_ her home?"

Her retort was met with a grin, a rare sight on any Scott, let alone the one that wore a pensive pout on a day to day basis. Not that she'd noticed, or anything.

"Is that what you plan to tell the cops when you're slapped with a DUI charge?"

He was closer now, but not close enough; the space between her folded arms and his chest seemingly a mile long.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

He edged closer again, butterflies erupting in Brooke's stomach as he drew near. She had to fight to keep her eyes looked on his; his probing gaze enough to make her cheeks flush in discomfort and her eyes strain to glance at the safety of her shoes.

"Good thing I didn't come here to lecture you, then."

"Then what did you come for, Lucas?"

The question floated from her lips, sugary sweet tone implicating more than she was sure he'd even understand, but he didn't bat an eyelid as he answered, the hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips the only confirmation that he'd even registered the suggestion in her voice.

"I came to help. Let me take you home."

* * *

Large hands engulfed her small waist, slender fingers curling around the hem of her tank top as a nose nudged it's way along her neck. Peyton didn't need to turn around to identify the owner- _no_ , the scent of his cologne was all too familiar as it permeated the air in the dimly lit room.

"You shouldn't be up here."

Her fingers walked their way down to his as she spoke, and she took a moment to revel in the way the skin on his forearm pricked beneath her touch. "Nathan will be up soon. You should go."

She didn't want him to go. In a way, she wished Nathan would come. She wished that he'd stumble across the both of them- she wished that _anyone_ would stumble across the both of them, because then all the lying and the deceiving and the _longing_ could stop.

"I saw your fight with Brooke," was his response, concern ringing loud and clear in his voice. "Want to tell me what's on your mind?"

It was the same question he'd been asking for the past week, and Peyton was running out of ways to deflect it. Not even the tiniest furrow of her brow went unnoticed by him, and he had a good way of cornering her the second her shoulders started to sag or her smile began to droop. It was a stark change to what she'd grown accustomed to since being with Nathan- a boy who _cared._

She turned to face him, her curls brushing against his leather jacket as she shrugged her shoulders in faux nonchalance.

"Nothing's on my mind."

His sigh was interrupted by a loud cheer from outside, a chorus of giggles floating through the open second-story window a second later. It was a while before he spoke again, a different kind of concern present in the words that left his mouth.

"Is this about telling Nathan?"

She could've told the truth then; could have come clean about at least one of the things that had been playing on her mind in the past few weeks. It was _him_ , and he would take whatever she needed to dump on him with open, unrelenting arms.

But the words wouldn't come out.

So she lied, and later that night as she watched him stride down her front path from the safety of her bedroom window, she wiped a lone tear from her warm cheek, her lips trembling with the effort to keep a terrified sob in.

She was pregnant.

With Jake Jagielski's baby.

* * *

 _Songs used:_

 _Hundred Miles by Yall ft. Gabriela Richardson for Desigual_

 _Say My Name by ODESZA_

 _Gone Are The Days by Honne_

 _Please review!_


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